Red Lobster, the Darden Restaurants Inc. seafood restaurant chain found in strip malls across the country, dismissed rumors that it would be closing its more than 700 U.S. locations.

According to a post on LAWeekly, Darden has plans to either “sell or spin off” the Red Lobster chain into another business; “It seems that consumers are turning their noses up at hoity-toity sit-down places like Red Lobster and Olive Garden these days in favor of cheaper chains like Chipotle.”

Hoity-toity or not, the competition is on the rise, with healthier and faster places popping up all across the country. But a Darden representative says the rumors are just that, started by the LAWeekly post. According to ABCNews, Rich Jeffers, a spokesman for Darden Restaurants Inc., said the company “is not going out of business.”

Darden’s market value is a whopping $8.5 billion, and Red Lobster’s revenues make up a huge chunk of that—about $2.6 billion in 2013, but the chain’s growth isn’t impressive notes LAWeekly, “Last quarter the company experienced a 31 percent drop in net earnings,” and in a statement, the company said “The reduced unit growth will lower capital spending by at least $100 million annually.”

In addition to 705 Red Lobster locations, Darden Restaurants owns a total of 2,100 restaurants including the Olive Garden chain, LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille and other smaller restaurants including Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, the Yard House and Eddie V’s.

Watch out American restaurant chains, people are done with bad food. Or at least that's what the plummeting sales at restaurants like Red Lobster and Oliver Garden seem to indicate. No matter what changes these corporate restaurants make, people are taking their money, and taste buds, elsewhere.

Watch out American restaurant chains, people are done with bad food. Or at least that’s what the plummeting sales at restaurants like Red Lobster and Oliver Garden seem to indicate. No matter what changes these corporate restaurants make, people are taking their money, and taste buds, elsewhere.

Why? People are apparently opting for food that is of higher (or at least perceived to be higher) quality and still affordable. In other words, the Chipotles of the market. For example, despite adding “small plates” to the menu (they’re smaller, they must be healthier!) and trying for a more modern atmosphere instead of that Old World, not-quite-Italian, thing the restaurant used to push, Olive Garden still experienced a 4 percent drop in sales last year.

Things don’t look any better at Red Lobster. The chain has been trying to breakout of the seafood box – while the salad might seem a smart option, it’s known to be tainted; cyclospora, yum! – but sales are down 5.2 percent. Which raises the question: is their melted butter even real?

Are people really opting for healthier food or just trying to avoid a night of nausea? Is it just the death knell of the all-you-can-eat salad bar?

Maybe, just maybe, more people are realizing that the processed food that chains like this serve simply isn’t good, no matter how much of it the waitress stacks up on your platter.

In just two years, the world’s largest full-service restaurant group has recycled more than 7.3 million pounds of fry oil, the chain announced earlier this month.

The $8 billion a year Orlando, FL-based business with more than 1,900 locations includes some of the nation’s top restaurant chains such as Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and The Capital Grille.

According to TriplePundit.com, Darden Restaurants recycled 100 percent of its oil use in 2011—turning the oil into biodiesel fuel, animal foods, even soap.

Recycling and reducing food waste are becoming important considerations for the food industry. TriplePundit reports that on average, Americans throw out more than 4.4 pounds of trash every day, “The Environmental Protection Agency figures that more than half of our national waste – and that’s 136 million tons – ends up in our nation’s landfills. And it ranges from newspapers and food waste to electronics and all of the other things we dispose of every day.”

TriplePundit reports that even the nation’s largest chain, Wal-Mart, has stepped up the game when it comes to making recycling and sustainable decisions, “in 2011, Walmart diverted more than 268,000 gallons of yellow grease from rotisserie chicken and, of that total, more than 100,000 gallons were recycled into biodiesel fuel.”

It wasn’t that long ago that recycling, let alone recycling food waste, was a foreign issue for most Americans. But, according to TriplePundit, “As the public continues to become increasingly aware of our major waste issues, locally and globally, many companies are stepping up their waste-reduction efforts. As a result, they are helping our planet and winning approvals from consumers, customers and their employees.”